Question

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have been used extensively as dielectric materials in electrical transformers. Because PCBs have been shown to be potentially harmful, analysis for their presence in the environment has become very important. PCBs are manufactured according to the following generic reaction:

This reaction results in a mixture of PCB products. The mixture is analyzed by decomposing the PCBs and then precipitating the resulting Cl2 as AgCl.
a. Develop a general equation that relates the average value of n to the mass of a given mixture of PCBs and the mass of AgCl produced.
b. A 0.1947- g sample of a commercial PCB yielded 0.4971 g of AgCl. What is the average value of n for this sample?